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The present invention relates generally to high bandwidth networks and methods used for managing such networks and, more specifically, to optical networks and methods used for discovering the connectivity of networks.
One traditional way of tracking the the connectivity of communication links in a network has been to record the connectivity manually as the node elements and links are installed and activated. Further updates to the network might not be recorded resulting in the record of the circuit-based network becoming obsolete. As packet-based communications became the primary communications protocol to utilize these networks, computer-controlled management of the packets in network was developed and utilized to track packets. However, similar network management methods were not developed for the circuit-based underlying structure of the network. Networks that use a protocol that allows for neighbor and connectivity discovery are termed auto-discovering. Packet-based networks, such as TCP/IP and OSI networks use this technique.
In circuit switched networks, however, connections have traditionally been hand-wired. Circuit based protocols were not designed for auto-discovery. While some capability might be designed into the newer optical connection products, the standards for circuit-based networks are currently not sufficiently developed to allow self-discovery of a general circuit-based network. Recently, data bandwidth requirements have increased and the new types of data (digitized video, massive databases, etc) are too fast to be served by packet-based protocols.
High bandwidth networks require entire circuits, the communication connection between two points, to carry data. The need to understand the topology of the layout of circuits is too critical to rely on the unreliable records of the network generated by yesterday""s technology. Therefore, there is a need for a methodology of mapping the circuits present in such networks.
A method of determining the connectivity of a circuit-based network uses the information currently available about the network; its nodes, the ports on the nodes, and the type of the links between ports, to support a technique to discover the remaining connectivity information about the network. A management entity controls the discovery process by enabling transmission of a unique stylized probe message (a TRACE message in the described embodiments) containing transmitter specific information. When a receiver recognizes the message, it reports both the receiver""s identity and the transmitter""s identity to the management entity. By accumulating this data, the management entity accumulates the connectivity information about the network. Each probe message yields at most one link in the connectivity pattern. The unique stylized probe messages are tailored to the transmission mechanism available at each transmitter. While different types of transmission mechanisms can be used, it is preferable to use the one capable of carrying the most information and disrupting the network least. The management entity that controls the mapping operation can be monolithic, building a map of the entire network in one database, or distributed, allowing maps of subnetworks to reside in multiple nodes hosting management components and one coordinating management resource able to access all the connection information.